The history behind the “Elf on a Shelf” started in 2005 when Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell, self-published the book “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition” along with a special box with a small Scout Elf inside.

The Elf is told to scan the house and see how the children are acting inside the house and then at night report the behavior back to Santa Clause. The Elf then comes back to the house in the morning at a new spot, hoping that the kids will be surprised with its new location.

This has been popular through millions of Americans as this can be a way where the elf scouts the children, causing the children to behave well and not appear on Santa’s “naughty list.” The fun thing about this scout toy is the fact that each morning the Elf is moved and it does something cool and creative to make the kids want to keep behaving and believing in the Christmas story.

For example, when I was a kid during the Christmas season our elf named Stacy came back in the morning and appeared doing a snow angel with some flour in my kitchen. I was amazed and fell in love with the Christmas spirit.